System and method for filtering data received by a computer system

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a system and method for restricting access to data received by a computer over a network by filtering certain data from the data received. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a computer based method for filtering objectionable or target text data from World Wide Web pages which are received by a computer system connected to the Internet. According to the method, if the web page requested by the user contains only a minimum of objectionable or target data, the user may receive a portion of the filtered web page for downloading and viewing on his or her computer. If the web page requested contains a large amount of objectionable or target data, the invention will cause a “forbidden” page to be displayed on the user&#39;s computer monitor.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/450,782, filed Nov. 30, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,430 which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/823,123, filed Mar. 25, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,011, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a computer based system and method for filtering data received by a computer system and, in particular, to a computer based system and method for filtering text data from World Wide Web pages received by a computer system connected to the Internet.

2. Prior Art

While there are numerous benefits which accrue from the interconnection of computers or computer systems in a network, such an interconnection presents certain problems as well.

Broadly speaking, networks allow the various computers connected to the network to share information. Typically, if desired, access to certain information is restricted by providing access codes or the like to those individuals who are cleared to view or download the information. While this method of controlling access to information works fairly well for situations where each user is identifiable, it is very difficult to efficiently and effectively implement such a method in cases where there are a large number of unidentifiable users. Such is the situation with the vast interconnection of networks called the Internet.

The Internet is accessed by many millions of users every day and while it is somewhat possible to obtain some information with respect to identifying the computers through which a particular user accesses the Internet, it very difficult, if not impossible, to identify a particular user beyond any self-identification provided by the user himself.

By far, most of the traffic on the Internet currently occurs on the World Wide Web. On the World Wide Web, both text and graphic information is typically provided on web pages and this information is transmitted via the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”). A web page has a particular address associated with it called a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”).

A typical user accesses the World Wide Web via a modem connection to a proxy/cache server which is connected to the Internet. A browser is the software program which runs on the user's computer (client computer) and allows the user to view web pages. To view a particular web page, the user inputs the URL of the desired web page into his or her browser. The browser sends the request to the proxy/cache server and the server sends the request over the Internet to the computer on which the web page resides. A header as well as a copy of the body of the web page is then sent back to the user's browser and displayed on the user's computer.

While an incredible amount of information is available on the millions of web pages provided on the World Wide Web, some of this information is not appropriate for all users. In particular, although children can be exposed to a vast number of educational and entertaining web pages, many other web pages include adult content which is not appropriate for access by children.

One method which is used to control access to these adult web pages is to require an access code to view or download particular web pages. Typically, this access code is obtained by providing some identification, often in the form of a credit card number. The obvious drawbacks of this method are: 1) such a system will invariably deny or inhibit access to many adults as well as children because many adults do not want to, or may not be able to, provide a credit card number; and 2) the system is not fool-proof because children may obtain access to credit cards, whether their's or their parents'.

Several services are available to parents and educators which provide a second method for preventing access to web pages containing adult content. These services provide software programs which contain a list of forbidden URLs. Service providers compile the list by searching the World Wide Web for web pages having objectionable material. When a user inputs a URL which appears on the forbidden list or “deny list,” the program causes a message to be displayed indicating that access to that web page is forbidden. Although this method works well for denying access to web pages which are on the forbidden list, because thousands of web pages are being created and changed every day, it is simply impossible to provide an up-to-date list of every web page containing adult content. Therefore, these systems often allow children access to web pages which contain adult content but have not yet been added to the forbidden list.

A further drawback to the above-described access control systems is that they are simple admit/deny systems. That is, the user is either allowed to download and view the entire web page or he/she is forbidden from doing so. It is not practical, using either of these methods, to allow a particular user to download and view only the portions of the web page which are not objectionable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a system and method for restricting access to objectionable or “target” data received by a computer over a network by filtering objectionable data from the data received. The present invention provides for filtering the data as received, so called “on the fly,” so that a newly created web page may be filtered as accurately as one that has been predetermined to contain objectionable material. Because the present invention operates on successive blocks of data (of varying sizes) it can allow portions of the requested page to be displayed as they are received and reviewed, rather than requiring that the entire page be reviewed before being displayed. Thus, the user does not typically perceive a delay when the invention is in use.

Although the embodiments of the invention are described below with respect to a system and method for filtering objectionable data from the data received, it should be understood that the present invention can be applied to process any type of target data from the data received. Thus, the present invention may be utilized to process desired data such that, for instance, only Web pages containing desired information are displayed on the user's computer.

In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a computer based method for filtering text data from World Wide Web pages which are received by a computer system connected to the Internet. Advantageously, the method of the present invention is carried out by the computer which acts as the proxy/server through which the user's computer is connected to the Internet. However, the method can be carried out by the user's computer as well.

According to the method, if the web page requested by the user contains only a minimum of objectionable or target data, the user receives a portion of the filtered web page for downloading and viewing on his or her computer. While, if the web page requested contains a large amount of objectionable material, the invention will cause a “forbidden” page to be displayed on the user's computer monitor.

In the preferred embodiment, the request is sequentially filtered at three different levels, if necessary. First, the URL requested is filtered to determine if the web page associated with that URL has been pre-approved or pre-denied. If the URL has not be pre-approved or pre-denied, the header of the web page is then filtered to determine if the web page contains text data (such as HTML). If so, the body of the web page is filtered. While the filter will decide whether or not to block access to the entire web page based on the URL, depending on its processing of the body of the web page, the filter may deny access completely to the web page, deny access to certain portions of the web page (i.e., filter out some objectionable words), or allow complete access to the web page.

The method of the present invention first compares the requested URL to “allowed lists” which contain URLs of web pages which have been approved for display to the user in particular categories. If the requested URL is found in the allowed lists, the entire associated web page is, accordingly, forwarded to the user for downloading or viewing. If, however, the requested URL is not found in the allowed lists, the requested URL is then compared to “denied lists,” (or “forbidden lists”) each of which functions in much the same manner as that of the prior art systems. If the requested URL is found in a forbidden list, a message is transmitted to the user's computer indicating that access to the web page is forbidden (hereinafter referred to as a “FORBIDDEN” page).

If the requested URL is found in neither an allowed list or a denied list, and if the header indicates that the page contains text data, then the method provides for filtering the text of the web page, as it is either received from the network or read out of cache, to determine if it contains objectionable or target text. If the page contains objectionable text, the method determines what kind of objectionable text (specific words or phrases), how much objectionable text, and the relative groupings of objectionable text.

Depending on the settings of predetermined parameters, certain objectionable words or phrases (if found) are either replaced with an innocuous filler (such as “- - -”) before the web page is forwarded to the user's computer or only a “FORBIDDEN” page is forwarded to the user's computer or, a “FORBIDDEN” message is forwarded to the user's computer for a portion of the web page. The settings of the predetermined parameters may be modified by those having access to the computer program through which the computer implements the program, such as the server operator or, perhaps, the user's parent. Advantageously, the requested URL may first be compared with the denied lists and then compared with the allowed lists. Optionally, the HTTP header of the web page is filtered after the URL to determine if the page contains text data and, if not, the method does not filter the web page body, since the method for filtering the web page body is only capable of filtering text or other recognizable data patterns. The method provides for filtering the text of the web page by comparing each “word” (defined by groupings of letter/number characters) in the web page to a “dictionary.” The words in the dictionary are periodically updated. The invention is also capable of scanning for and filtering multi-word phrases (e.g., “adult shows”), but in preferred embodiments, such phrases are handled differently than single objectionable words.

Advantageously, each word in the dictionary has a number of variables associated with it, such as: 1) a variable that indicates whether the word, if found, should be replaced with the innocuous filler (or a specific replacement filler word may be indicated); 2) a variable that indicates what category of objectionableness the word belongs to (i.e., pornography, intolerance, crime, job hunting, etc.); 3) a variable that indicates what language the word is a part of (i.e., english, french, spanish, etc.); 4) a base score variable that indicates how objectionable the word is; and 5) a bonus score variable that indicates whether the word is more objectionable when used in combination with other objectionable words. In this advantageous embodiment, the method provides for filtering the body of the web page by comparing each word in the web page with the words in the dictionary. If a word in the web page matches, then that word will either be replaced or not replaced with the filler, as indicated by the variable. A running score is determined for the entire web page (or block), based on a particular algorithm, as the page is being filtered. If the final score for the page or block of text is above a predetermined threshold score, a “FORBIDDEN” message is forwarded to the user's computer instead. Thus, a user may see a portion of a requested web page followed by a message indicating that the next block of text is “FORBIDDEN.”

The system of the present invention comprises a general purpose computer which is programmed to implement the method of the present invention. The computer of such a system is typically the proxy/cache server computer but it may also be the client computer or another computer.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in summary form above as applied to the filtering of web pages received over the Internet, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that this method is also applicable to filtering of data received by a computer from any network, including an intranet. Further, in addition to reviewing HTTP information received from the Internet, the present invention may be applied to review information posted to forms-based pages such as search engines, surveys, guest books, and the like. If the words or phrases would yield objectionable results, the invention will prevent posting of the data to the remote HTTP server.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in, or will become apparent from, the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the broad steps of filtering a web page URL, header, and body in accordance with one embodiment of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the steps for filtering a URL request in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the steps for filtering a web page header in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the steps for filtering a web page body in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the system of the present invention. In this embodiment, a proxy/cache server computer 110 is connected to the Internet and is capable of receiving HTTP information over the World Wide Web. A client computer 120 (user's computer) is connected to the server computer 110, typically via an ethernet or modem connection. In accordance with the present invention, server computer 110 runs a computer program 112 which programs the server computer 110 to filter any request it receives for a web page from the client computer 120 and to output to the client computer 120 only those web pages, or portions of web pages, which are deemed appropriate for viewing by the user of the client computer 120. This filtering takes place in at least three stages, as is described below relative to FIGS. 2 through 5, which illustrate the method of the present invention.

The flowchart in FIG. 2 shows the broad steps of filtering a requested web page URL, header, and body in accordance with one embodiment of the method of the present invention. The method begins at terminal block 210 and continues to block 212 where the user selected URL is input. The URL request is filtered at decision block 214 and the filter decision is “yes” if the request is denied based on the URL and “no” if the request is not denied at this point. If decision block 214 returns a “yes,” block 216 shows that a page indicating access is forbidden (“FORBIDDEN” page) is to be returned, which page will be output to the client computer. If decision block 214 returns a “no,” the HTTP header is input at block 218 and filtered at decision block 220. If decision block 220 returns a “yes,” block 222 shows that the “FORBIDDEN” page is to be returned and if decision block 220 returns a “no,” the first portion of the body of the web page is input at block 224.

Decision block 226 checks to see if the end of the page has been reached and, if so, the method returns to await another user selected URL. If the end of the page has not been reached, that portion of the body of the web page is filtered at decision block 228. If decision block 228 returns a “yes” (objectionable material found), then that portion of the web page is modified and, if certain rules are met, it is later sent to the client computer, indicated at block 232. If decision block 228 returns a “no,” indicating no objectionable material was found in that portion of the web page body, then control is returned to block 224 where the next portion of the web page body is input.

The filters indicated in decision blocks 214, 220, and 228 are shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, respectively. The filters shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 are based on a method involving a dictionary, which dictionary can be updated periodically, and a score threshold for indicating whether or not a web page, or a portion thereof, should be forbidden.

Each word or phrase in the dictionary has several variables associated with it. Together each word in the dictionary and its associated variables form an entry in the dictionary. In a preferred embodiment, each entry in the dictionary has the following format:

Target:Replace:Category:Language:BaseScore:BonusScore where “Target” is the objectionable or target word. “Replace” indicates whether or not the word or phrase should be replaced in the text if it is found (R=replace, N=not replace). “Category” is the category the word belongs to (e.g., pornography, intolerance, crime, violence, sports, etc.), and “Language” is the language the word belongs to (e.g., english, french, spanish, etc.). “BaseScore” is the score the word contributes to the total score of the web page body, or portion thereof, if it is found and “BonusScore” is the additional score the word contributes to the total score if it is found in close proximity to other objectionable words. A word may be assigned a negative score, which would subtract from the total score instead of adding to it.

In the preferred embodiment, the default threshold score at which a web page will be forbidden is 50, although this score can readily be changed by anyone having the required access.

Examples of possible words and associated variables in the dictionary are as follows.

nude:N:pornography:english:5:5

This entry would be for the word “nude.” “Nude,” if found would not be replaced in the text (N); it is in the pornography category; it is in the english language; it has a score of 5; and it contributes a bonus score of 5 if found with other words in the dictionary.

hot:N:none:english:0:5

This entry, for the word “hot,” is not to be replaced if found; is in no particular category; is in the english language; has no score; and has a bonus score of 5.

The flowchart of FIG. 3 shows the portion of the method which is represented by decision block 214 in FIG. 2, showing filtering of the URL request. This portion of the method begins at terminal block 310 and in block 312 a variable called “filter” is turned on and a variable called “score” is set to zero. The “filter” variable is used to later indicate whether the header or body of the web page should be filtered (on) or not filtered (off). “Score” is the variable which keeps track of the total score of the URL being filtered.

Decision block 314 asks whether the requested URL is in the Local-Allow list, which is a list of URLs associated with web pages that have been pre-approved so that they do not need to be filtered. In addition to speeding up transmission by allowing the request to be passed without filtering the web page, the Local-Allow list also provides for allowing full access to web pages which have text that would normally be filtered. This may prove advantageous, for instance, if a web page discusses certain objectionable text in a manner to educate children about its effects.

If the URL is in the Local-Allow list, the Filter variable is set to “Off” in block 316 and a “No” is returned in terminal block 318. If the URL is not in the Local-Allow list, decision block 320 checks to see if the URL is in the Deny List. The Deny List is a listing of URLs associated with web pages which have been predetermined to be objectionable. If the URL is in this list, terminal block 322 returns a “Yes.” This Deny List feature is advantageous inter alia for designating web pages which may contain objectionable material other than text which may be filtered, such as objectionable pictures.

If the URL is not in the Deny List, the individual words in the URL and POST/GET data are then filtered. Block 324 indicates that the variable “Word” is set to the first word in the request. Decision block 326 checks to see if the last word in the request has already been filtered and, if so, decision block 328 determines whether the “Score” of the request at this point is greater than the predetermined threshold “Targetscore,” which threshold may, advantageously, be changed by one having the appropriate access. If the “Score” variable is not greater than the “Targetscore” threshold, then terminal block 332 returns a “No,” indicating that the page should not be forbidden. If the “Score” variable is greater than the “Targetscore” threshold, then terminal block 330 returns a “Yes,” indicating the page should be forbidden. If decision block 326 indicates that the last word in the request has not already been filtered, then decision block 334 compares “Word” against the dictionary. If “Word” does not match an entry in the dictionary, then “Word” is set to the next word in the request and decision block 326 again checks to see if the last word has been filtered. If “Word” does match an entry in the dictionary, then decision block 338 determines whether “Word” has content, that is, is the category variable not set to “none” or, alternatively is the category variable set to a particular category of interest (for instance, “pornography”). If “Word” does not have content (category=none), then, in block 340, “Word” is again set to the next word in the request and, if “Word” does have content (category≠ “none” or category=a particular category), “Score” is set to the previous value of “Score” plus the base score of the word and “Word” is then set to the next word in the request. Control returns to decision block 326.

The filtering method for the header of the web page, indicated at decision block 220 of FIG. 2, is shown in detail in FIG. 4. This method essentially determines if the page is in text (such as HTML) such that it may be effectively reviewed by the filter.

The method begins at terminal block 410 and decision block 412 determines whether the “Filter” variable is set to “On.” If the “Filter” variable is not set to “On,” indicating that the header should not be filtered, then terminal block 414 returns a “No.” If the “Filter” variable is set to “On,” then decision block 416 determines whether the page contains text data and, if so, the “Score” variable is set to zero and the “Found” variable is set to Null at block 418, and terminal block 420 returns a “No,” indicating the page should not be forbidden based on the header. If decision block 416 determines that the page does not contain text data, then the “Filter” variable is set to “Off” in block 422 and terminal block 424 returns a “No.”

The filtering method for the body of the web page, uses the dictionary and the variables described above, however this method introduces new variables as well which enable it to consider the proximity of the objectionable words to each other, as well as other factors, in deciding whether or not to deny access to the page.

In this method, the body of the web page is filtered one word at a time. When a word is found which is in the dictionary, a “Chain” is started. Succeeding sequential words that are found in the dictionary are included in the “Chain” and the “Chain” is ended when two words in a row are not found in the dictionary. Accordingly, these last two words are not part of the “Chain”. Thus, the determination of the “Chain” length is controlled by a “Proximity” variable.

After a “Chain” is formed, it is scored. To score a “Chain,” all the base scores for each word in the “Chain” are added together. The bonus scores for each word are added to the total as well, if the “Chain” contains more than one word in the dictionary. If any of the words in the “Chain” have content, i.e., category not set to “none” or category set to a particular relevant category, then the “Chain's” score is added to the total score for the page or block. Advantageously, a total score is kept for each category and specific thresholds are set for each category.

If the “Replace” variable for any of the words is “R” indicating replace, then the word is replaced with an innocuous word or symbol (e.g., “- - -”). Advantageously, the “Replace” variable for each word in the dictionary may instead be an alternate word which is used to replace the objectionable word, e.g., “darn” for “damn”. Such replacement words may be displayed in an alternate color.

If the total score for the page exceeds the predetermined threshold, e.g., 50, then the entire page is replaced with a “FORBIDDEN” page. In an advantageous embodiment, only words in the same language are scored together and separate thresholds are predetermined for each category.

In a preferred embodiment, if a word in a chain is not found in the dictionary for the indicated category, the accumulated bonus score for the chain is decreased by 5 points (possibly becoming negative), which is essentially a way to reflect less proximity in the chain. After individual words in the chain are scored, the chain is checked for phrases. If found, the base score of the phrase is added to the chain score.

The base score and bonus score of the chain are combined as follows: if none of the words or phrases in the chain were found to be listed in any of the selected categories, the chain is described as “not having content.” That is, while the chain consisted of known words and phrases, those words or phrases did not describe any of the subject matter that was selected. In such a case, the chain would have a score of zero.

If at least one word or phrase in the chain was found to be listed in any of the selected categories, the chain is described as “having content” and the chain's score is calculated as set forth above.

In either case, if the bonus score (if any) was not used (i.e., the chain had no content, or the chain contained only one dictionary word), the unused bonus score is used later when computing a final score for the entire block.

Like the chains, the block itself (which contains the chains) has two scores: a base score and a bonus score which each having an initial value of zero. For each chain that is scored, that chain's base score is added to the block's base score. Additionally, if the chain had an unused bonus score, that chain's unused bonus score is added to the block's bonus score.

Once the chains have been scored, a final score for the block is calculated. If the block's base score is a positive value, and there were any unused bonus points, in a preferred embodiment, the block's final score is the sum of the base score plus up to one third (⅓) of those unused bonus points (not to exceed the base score itself). Alternatively, the block's final score is the base score alone, and the unused bonus score is discarded.

In order to support phrases (such as “pipe bomb”) a hash of words and a list of phrases is maintained. When the dictionary is loaded, phrases are stored in the phrase list and individual words are stored in the word hash. For example, “pipe bomb” would be stored in the phrase list while “pipe” and “bomb” would be stored in the word hash. If the individual words are already in the word hash, there would be no additional effect. If the individual words are not in the word hash, then “none” category, 0 base points, and 0 bonus points are assigned to these words.

The individual words are stored in the word hash in order to keep the chain “alive” when it is being formed and scored. Thus, chain scoring proceeds as before for the individual words. In a preferred embodiment, after the chain is scored based upon the individual words found in the chain, then another search of the chain is completed corresponding to the phrase list. If a phrase is found, then the phrase's base score is added to the total score for the block (alternatively, such an addition may take place only if the phrase is in the designated category.

Optionally, the “FORBIDDEN” page provides additional information, such as the total score for the page or block, the score of the page or block in each category, the language of the objectionable words in the page, etc. This information may be viewed and the thresholds may be changed by one having the appropriate access, for instance, a parent, teacher, or corporate executive.

The examples below illustrate how the scoring of a “Chain” is accomplished.

Sample Dictionary

hot:N:none:english:0:5

fantasy:N:none:english:0:5

pictures:N:none:english:0:5

nude:N:pornography:english:5:5

sexual:N:pornography:english:5:5

harassment:N:none:english:0:−10

Sample “Chain” Score sexual fantasy 15 (sexual has content and multiple words from the dictionary are in the “Chain” so bonus scores count. 5 + 5 from “sexual” and 5 from “fantasy”) sexual harassment 0 (sexual has content and multiple words are in the “Chain”, so bonus scores count. 5 + 5 from “sexual” and −10 from “harassment”) pictures 0 (“pictures” has no content) hot pictures 0 (neither “hot” or “pictures” has content) nude 5 (“nude” has content, but only one word in “Chain”, so only the base score applies) hot nude pictures 20 (3 words in “Chain”, 1 with content, all base and bonus scores apply)

One embodiment of the filtering method for the body of the web page, indicated at decision block 228 of FIG. 2, is shown in detail in FIG. 5. This method uses a “Proximity” variable to indicate whether a word found to be in the dictionary is within two words of the last word found to be in the dictionary, such that it should be part of the same “Chain.” Also, a “Found” list is used to keep track of all the objectionable words found which should be replaced if the web page is to be displayed. Additionally, a “Tempchain” variable allows the method to determine if the next two sequential words are actually in the dictionary before they are added to the “Chain.”

The method is begun at terminal block 510 and decision block 512 determines whether the “Filter” variable is set to “On.” If not (indicating that the body of the web page should not be filtered), terminal block 514 returns a “No.” If “Filter” is “On,” then “Word” is set to the first word in the page or text block at block 516. Decision block 518 determines whether the last word in the page or text block has already been filtered and, if it has, block 520 indicates that all the words in the “Found” list are replaced with the replace word (e.g., “- - -”) Decision block 522 determines whether the “Score” for the page or block of text exceeds the predetermined “Targetscore” threshold and, if so, the page or block of text is replaced with the “FORBIDDEN” page or message in block 526 before a “Yes” is returned by terminal block 528, indicating that access was denied based on the web page body. If the score does not exceed the “Targetscore” threshold, a “No” is returned at terminal block 524.

If decision block 518 determines that the last word in the page or block of text has not been filtered, then decision block 530 is invoked to determine if “Word” is in the dictionary. If so, “Tempchain” is added to “Chain” along with “Word” and the “Proximity” variable is set to 1, in block 532. Block 534 then sets “Word” to the next word on the page. If “Word” is not in the dictionary, then decision block 536 checks to see if “Chain” is null (i.e., contains no words) and, if it is, block 534 sets “Word” to the next word on the page or in the text block. If “Chain” is not null, decision block 538 determines if “Proximity” is greater than zero. If “Proximity” is greater than zero, indicating that the last word was in the dictionary, then 1 is subtracted from “Proximity” and “Word” is added to “Tempchain” in block 540. Block 534 then sets “Word” to the next word on the page. If “Proximity” is not greater than zero, then this indicates that the last two words were not in the dictionary and thus, the “Chain” is ended. The next portion of the method scores the “Chain.”

In block 542, “Word” is set to the first word in the “Chain.” If that is not the last word in the “Chain,” as determined in decision block 544, then decision block 546 determines whether “Word” is replaceable. If yes, then “Word” is added to the “Found” list in block 550 and control is sent to block 548. If “Word” is not replaceable, then control is sent directly to block 548. Block 548 sets: “Base Score” to the previous “Base Score” plus the “Word's” base score; “Bonus Score” to the previous “Bonus Score” plus the “Word's” bonus score; “Content” to “Yes” if the “Word” has content; and “Word” to the next word in the “Chain”. Block 544 then again determines if the “Word” is the last word in the “Chain”.

If “Word” is the last word in the “Chain”, then decision block 552 determines if “Content” is set to “yes.” If so, then block 554 sets “Score” to the previous “Score” plus the “Bonus Score” and “Base Score,” as last determined in block 548. Control is then sent to block 556. If “Content” is not set to “yes,” then block 556 sets: “Chain” to null; “Tempchain” to null; “Proximity” to zero; “Bonus Score to zero, “Base Score” to zero; and “Content” to “No.” Block 534 then sets “Word” to the next word on the page.

One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the methods described above and shown in the flowcharts can readily be programmed into a computer using any of several computer programming languages. Advantageously, the method shown in FIG. 2 serves as the main loop of the program and the methods shown in FIGS. 3 through 5 serve as subroutines. The normal attendant initialization of variables, error checking, and the like, is programmed as required.

As noted above, while the system and method of the invention have been described with relation to filtering objectionable data from data received, the method can also be used to process data such that only Web pages containing desired data are passed to the user's computer.

Although the invention has been described in detail with respect to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variations and modifications can be effected in these embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A method for filtering a requested web page, the requested web page having a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) portion, a header portion, and a body portion, the method comprising: obtaining the URL portion of the requested web page; filtering the URL portion to determine if access to the requested web page is denied based upon the URL portion; determining if access to the requested web page is denied based upon the URL portion; if it is determined that access to the requested web page is denied based upon the URL portion, providing an output indicating that access to the requested web page is denied; if it is determined that access to the requested web page is not denied based upon the URL portion, determining if the requested web page is to be output based upon the URL portion; if it is determined that the requested web page is to be output based upon the URL portion, obtaining the requested web page and providing an output of the requested web page; if it is determined that the requested web page is not to be output based upon the URL portion, obtaining the header portion of the requested web page; filtering the header portion to determine if access to the requested web page is denied based upon the header portion; determining if access to the requested web page is denied based upon the header portion; if it is determined that access to the requested web page is denied based upon the header portion, providing the output indicating that access to the requested web page is denied; and if it is determined that access to the requested web page is not denied based upon the header portion, obtaining and filtering the body portion of the requested web page for target content.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the body portion of the requested web page comprises: obtaining at least a first portion of the body portion; filtering the at least a first portion for instances of target content; determining if the at least a first portion of the body portion is to be modified based upon the instances of the target content; if the at least a first portion of the body portion is to be modified, modifying the at least a first portion to generate a modified at least a first portion and providing an output of the modified at least a first portion; and if the at least a first portion of the body portion is not to be modified, providing an output of the at least a first portion.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method is implemented on a proxy server.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the requested web page is input by a user on a host computer, the host computer being communicatively coupled to the proxy server, and further wherein at least one output selected from the group consisting of the output indicating that access to the requested web page is denied, the output of the requested web page, the output of the modified at least a first portion, and the output of the at least a first portion are communicated from the proxy server to the host computer.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the URL portion to determine if access to the requested web page is denied based upon the URL portion comprises: filtering the URL portion for one or more URL characteristics.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the header portion to determine if access to the requested web page is denied based upon the header portion comprises: filtering the header portion for one or more header characteristics.
 7. A method for filtering a request to access a web page, the method comprising: inputting a request to access a web page at a host computer; communicating the request to a proxy server; receiving the request at the proxy server; filtering the request at the proxy server to determine if access to the web page is denied; determining if access to the web page is denied; if it is determined that access to the web page is denied, providing an output to the host computer indicating access to the web page is denied; if it is determined that access to the web page is not denied, obtaining at least a portion of a header of the web page; filtering the at least a portion of the header of the web page to determine if at least a portion of a body of the web page is to be filtered for instances of target content; if it is determined that at least a portion of the body of the web page is to be filtered for instances of target content, obtaining the at least a portion of the body of the web page; filtering the at least a portion of the body of the web page for instances of target content; determining if the at least a portion of the body of the web page is to be modified based upon the instances of target content; if it is determined that the at least a portion of the body of the web page is not to be modified, providing an output of the at least a portion of the body of the web page to the host computer; if it is determined that the at least a portion of the body of the web page is to be modified, modifying the at least a portion of the body of the web page to generate a modified at least a portion of the body of the web page; and outputting the modified at least a portion of the body of the web page to the host computer.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the filtering the request at the proxy server to determine if access to the web page is denied comprises: filtering the request at the proxy server for instances of one or more characteristics, and further wherein the determining if access to the web page is denied is based upon the instances of one or more characteristics filtered in the request.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the modifying the at least a portion of the body of the web page comprises replacing the instances of target content with substitute data.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the substitute data is highlighted in the modified at least a portion of the body of the web page.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the substitute data is one of one or more replacement words and one or more replacement symbols.
 12. A method comprising: receiving a request to access a web page, the request to access the web page including at least a URL portion, the web page including at least a header portion and a body portion; filtering the request to access the web page to determine whether to deny access to the web page, approve access to the web page, or to filter the header portion of the web page; determining whether to deny access to the web page, approve access to the web page, or to filter the header portion of the web page; if it is determined to deny access to the web page, providing an output indicating access to the web page is denied; if it is determined to approve access to the web page, providing an output of the web page; if it is determined to filter the header portion of the web page, filtering the header portion of the web page to determine whether to filter the body portion of the web page; and if it is determined to filter the body portion of the web page, filtering the body portion of the web page for target content.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether to deny access to the web page is based upon the URL.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether to approve access to the web page is based upon the URL.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether to filter the header portion of the web page is based upon the URL.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein after filtering the body portion of the web page for target content, determining whether to modify the body portion of the web page; if it is determined not to modify the body portion of the web page, providing an output of the web page; and if it is determined to modify the body portion of the web page, replacing the target content with substitute data to generate a modified body portion, and providing an output of the modified body portion. 